The Big Ditch
"The Yreka Ditch"
Why it was built
it was constructed for miners to get water during the dry weather. The Yreka Ditch company was formed with the purpose to make some sort of channel from the Shasta river to the mines.
Facts
The ditch is 95 miles long and begins on the Shasta River and is just north of Weed.
It took over 5 months for it to start getting enough water to the miners.
Size
The minimum size of the ditch was four feet on the bottom, six feet on top, and a depth of two feet. Blasting powder was available, but expensive, so a great deal of blasting was done by building fires on the rocks and dashing cold water on them.
Come take a look
If someone would like to come and see the ditch you would have to travel between Yreka and Weed.